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New permafrost found at Interior lake

Scientists with McGill University in Montreal and the U.S. Geological Survey have found new permafrost forming at an Arctic lake in Alaskas Interior.

Twelvemile Lake, which had been shrinking in part due to melting permafrost, among other factors, has lost water at what researchers called an alarming rate, dropping some 15 feet in three decades. But the receding waters allowed willow bushes to take hold, providing shade, which cooled the soil, allowing for the growth of new permafrost.

The researchers were initially very excited by this find, a McGill University article noted. But after analyzing the thickness of the new permafrost and projecting how it will be affected by continued climate change and the expected rise in temperature in the Arctic of 3°C, they arrived at the conclusion that the new permafrost wont last beyond the end of the century.